CAMBODIA: Cambodian Journalists Remain Resilient Despite Crushing Press Freedom Blows

VOA: In the last story of this series, VOA Khmer reporters speak to the journalists affected by the government’s 2017 media crackdown. As readers and listeners mourn the lack of independent news coverage, reporters on the frontlines have had to bear the brunt of the government’s anger towards independent journalists.

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CHINA: Chinese censorship is spreading beyond its borders (Paywall)

The Financial Times:

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CHINA: Press freedom watchdog dismisses China’s ’70 Years of Progress on Human Rights’ white paper as ‘smokescreen’

Hong Kong Free Press: Ahead of the 70th anniversary of the People Republic of China, the Chinese State Council Information Office issued a white paper on China’s human rights conditions on September 22, 2019. Titled “Seeking Happiness for People: 70 Years of Progress on Human Rights in China”, the paper defines human rights as people’s rights to happiness and development.

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HONG KONG: Hong Kong media succumbing to Chinese pressure

Deutsche Welle: Reporting has become increasingly difficult in Hong Kong since pro-democracy protests erupted in the city four months ago. Many media organizations with ties to China are actively self-censoring. William Yang reports.

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HONG KONG: Hong Kong police apologise for ‘communication problems’ after broadcaster accuses officers of assaulting its driver in station

SCMP: Media outlet demands probe into alleged assault against driver, who was restrained outside Mong Kok Police Station on Monday.

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HONG KONG: Smear campaign targets Hong Kong unionists and journalists

IFJ: A series of false allegations and smears have this week targeted journalists and unionists in Hong Kong known for speaking out against attacks on media.

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INDIA: Cell Service Returns to Kashmir, Allowing First Calls in Months (Paywall)

The New York Times: After imposing a complete communications blackout two months ago, the Indian government on Monday partially restored cellphone service in the Kashmir Valley.

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INDIA: How the streaming wars came to India (Paywall)

Financial Times: As Netflix and Amazon splurge on original content to win streaming supremacy in India, Bollywood producer Tanveer Bookwala has never been so busy.

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INDIA: India approves foreign broadcaster technology collaborations

IBC365: India’s cabinet has rubber-stamped a memorandum of understanding signed between India and foreign broadcasters for the exchange of technical expertise in the radio and TV sectors.

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INDONESIA: Papua unrest: Social media bots ‘skewing the narrative’

BBC News: Indonesia’s Papua province has become the focus of a well-funded social media campaign using bots to promote a pro-government agenda, the BBC has found.

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JAPAN: Telecommunications affected by Typhoon Hagibis

NHK World: Telecommunications problems are being reported in the some parts of Japan in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis.

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MALAYSIA: Malaysian lawmakers repeal ‘fake news’ law

Rappler: Malaysian lawmakers voted to repeal a controversial law Wednesday, October 9, that punished spreading “fake news” with up to 6 years behind bars and which critics said was aimed at stifling dissent.

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MYANMAR: Internet shutdowns persist in Rakhine State

IFJ: Four townships in Myanmar’s Rakhine state have been closed off from internet access for nearly three months, blocking access to information to journalists and the public.

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NORTH KOREA: News in and out of North Korea (Listen)

RNZ: Jean Lee had one of the trickiest jobs in journalism – running the first international news agency bureau in North Korea. This former news blackspot has become much more newsworthy recently thanks to the unorthodox diplomacy of  Donald Trump. But do we get a better picture of what really goes on there? And what do North Koreans see in their own state-controlled media?

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NORTH KOREA & SOUTH KOREA: Media blackout for Inter-Korean football match

Asia Times: Fans, journalists from South banned from attending a World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang.

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PAKISTAN: Call to enhance journalists’ capacity for better use of RTI laws (Opinion)

The News International: Speakers at a seminar [in Lahore] underlined the need to enhance capacity of journalists for better utilisation of Right to Information (RTI) laws in investigative journalism.

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PHILIPPINES: Reporting From the Philippines When the President Wants to ‘Kill Journalism’

The New York Times: Rappler, one of the country’s most popular media platforms, has incurred President Duterte and his supporters’ wrath by investigating his extrajudicial killing campaign.

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PHILIPPINES: Russian propaganda arm RT to train PH gov’t media

Rappler: Russian TV network RT, short for “Russia Today,” has offered to teach a “different kind of reporting” to journalists working for government media outlets like PTV 4 and Philippine News Agency (PNA), said Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary JV Arcena in an interview aired on Radyo ng Bayan on Sunday, October 13.

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REGIONAL: How Central Asia Gets Its News (Research)

Institute for War & Peace Reporting: An in-depth IWPR survey across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has shown that social media is the region’s main way of accessing news – a phenomena which also leaves consumers vulnerable to disinformation.

AUSTRALIA: ABC announces US partnership to fight “fake news” in Media Literacy Week (Press Release)

ABC: The ABC has joined forces with one of the United States’ leading education organisations for the second annual Media Literacy Week, to combat the spread of spin, misinformation and “fake news” around the world.

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AUSTRALIA: ABC to ‘review’ property portfolio amid funding pressure 

The Sydney Morning Herald: ABC managing director David Anderson has found millions of dollars in cost savings across the public broadcaster and is now looking to review the taxpayer-funded organisation’s property holdings as he grapples with a funding freeze.

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AUSTRALIA: Indigenous filmmaker Rachel Perkins call for an “end to silence” in ABC Boyer Lectures (Press Release)

ABC: Leading Indigenous filmmaker Rachel Perkins will examine how the Uluru Statement from the Heart provides a path to ending the “great Australian silence” on the rightful place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in this nation, in this year’s ABC Boyer Lectures.

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AUSTRALIA: SBS boss lashes media tokenism and ‘tick-box’ diversity

The Sydney Morning Herald: SBS managing director James Taylor is set to call on the media industry to avoid a “tick-box” approach to diversity and instead look at genuine efforts to tell the stories of a multicultural country.

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AUSTRALIA: SBS to launch primetime one-off doc strand ‘Australia Uncovered’

Realscreen: Australian public broadcaster SBS has partnered with Documentary Australia Foundation (DAF) to launch a primetime single documentary strand.

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NEW ZEALAND: The evolution of climate change media coverage (Listen)

RNZ: It’s been hard to miss the media reportage on climate change for the past few weeks with Extinction Rebellion beginning their worldwide protest action here in New Zealand, and Greta Thunberg’s address at the UN. But in general, how is New Zealand media faring when it comes to shining the spotlight on the climate crisis?

ARMENIA: Attack on Online Portal Hayeli.am

COE: A group of four government supporters attacked the offices of the online portal Hayeli.am, highly critical of the Armenian authorities, on 5 October 2019. They threw eggs and posted offensive posters at the entrance of the offices of the publication in Yerevan, the capital of the country.

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BULGARIA: Bulgaria regulator acts to oust state radio chief in free speech row

Reuters: Bulgaria’s broadcast regulator launched action on Wednesday to sack the chief of Bulgarian National Radio for briefly taking it off the air in a row with a popular presenter known for her coverage of the graft-prone judicial system.

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FRANCE: Jean-Paul Philippot (RTBF) future boss of the giant France Télévisions and Radio France? “Macron likes to surprise” (French)

DH: France is in the midst of the reform of public broadcasting. In 2021, the “France Médias” holding company will be created to oversee France Télévisions, Radio France, the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) and France Médias Monde.

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GERMANY: More than 50 million Germans a day online (German)

ZDF: The proportion of onliners in Germany fell slightly compared to the previous year. Among the social media platforms, Facebook remains the most popular despite data breaches.

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IRELAND: RTE board urges station to get with the programme

The Times: National broadcaster criticised on finance, strategy and failure to connect with young. 

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ITALY: Italy’s RAI back in the black

Advanced Television: Italian public broadcaster RAI ended the first half of 2019 with a slight profit of €3.3 million, compared to a loss of just under €5 million in the same period of 2018.

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KOSOVO: Regional Platform: Unacceptable treatment towards Radio Belgrade crew by Kosovo Police

Safejournalists: The Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety, strongly condemns the detention of The Radio Belgrade first programme crew by Kosovo Police in the southern Mitrovica on Friday 4th of October.

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LATVIA: PM says €1m of party funding increase could be redirected to public media

LSM: A Justice Ministry initiative aims to funnel €5 million for a dramatic increase in funding for political parties next year, but PM Krišjānis Kariņš (New Unity) now says €1m of that could be instead spent on increasing wages at public media.

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MALTA: RSF Report: The assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Malta’s deteriorating press freedom climate

RSF: A full two years on, there has still been no justice for this heinous assassination, which has shed light on broader systemic failings with regard to Malta’s press freedom climate, rule of law, and democratic checks and balances. 

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MONTENEGRO: How honest is the story of self-regulation in Montenegro

Safejournalists: Media self-regulation is necessary and useful. It is unnecessary to waste time and prove that it is a useful mechanism by which the media community helps itself. It would be useful if it would be unique and binding on all media. The question is whether this is possible. It is realistic that a unique self-regulation of the media in Montenegro is not possible in the near future. The right question is how honest is the story about self-regulation.

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NETHERLANDS: The Netherlands: the travel restriction law threatens media freedom

EFJ: The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Dutch affiliate Nederlandse Vereninging van Journalisten (NVJ) in condemning a new law under which Dutch citizens travelling to an area “controlled by terrorist groups” must request permission from the justice ministry. This new regulation threatens the freedom to inform, EFJ said, calling on the Dutch senate to make an exception for journalists or to withdraw the bill.

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POLAND: Fears for press freedom ahead of Polish elections as populists plan ‘re-polanisation’ of foreign media

The Telegraph: The prospect of Law and Justice winning a second term in office has got Lukasz Lipinski worried. Poland’s socially conservative governing party is odds-on favourite to win a general election on Sunday, an outcome that he believes could cast ominous clouds over the free press in his country.

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ROMANIA: Online video consumption “explodes” in Romania

Broadband TV News: Two-thirds of Romanians now watch video content online or on the internet.

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SERBIA: BIRN Trains Journalists in Transitional Justice Reporting

BIRN: The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network began a three-day course in Belgrade to train journalists from across the former Yugoslavia in reporting on war crimes trials and other transitional justice topics. 

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SLOVAKIA: Smear Campaign Against Slovak Journalists

COE: Former Police President of Slovakia Tibor Gašpar has initiated a hate-filled communication campaign aimed at the editor-in-chief of Aktuality.sk Peter Bardy, journalist Monika Tódová from Dennik N and Jana Šimíčková from the weekly Plus 7. He is targeting journalists who have been covering the assassination of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova and alleged that Gašpar was involved.

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SPAIN: Catalunya Ràdio denounces intimidation of protesters with Spanish flags (Spanish)

La Vanguardia: The director of Catalunya Ràdio, Saül Gordillo, has denounced this Monday that a group of people dressed in Spanish flags has demonstrated in front of the doors of that station, located in the Diagonal avenue of Barcelona, in order to “intimidate” the Catalan public media.

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SPAIN: Check Telemadrid (Opinion – Spanish)

El País: Together with her team of advisors, the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has launched a campaign against regional television and, therefore, against her management team. Using the ubiquitous liberal discourse, he assures that Telemadrid has ceased to be an “essential” public service due to the large fragmentation of the television offer brought by the Internet and payment platforms such as HBO and Netflix.

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SPAIN: Police assault journalists during charges at Barcelona-El Prat airport

El Diario: Several of the journalists who are covering the protests at Barcelona-El Prat Airport have been beaten by agents from the Mossos d’Esquadra and the National Police. Among them the reporter of eldiario.es, Pol Pareja , during the eviction by the police of one of the accesses to the enclosure.

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SWITZERLAND: Media diversity shrinking in Switzerland

The Local: The Swiss media landscape is becoming more concentrated than ever, a new study has found, leading to concerns about media diversity.

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UK: ‘Brexit bump’ or news avoidance? Here is how Brexit has affected the UK press

Journalism.co.uk: The FT saw a 600 per cent growth in digital subscriptions over the 2016 referendum weekend, but one-third of Britons turn away from news. What is the state of the British press three years after the UK voted to leave the EU?

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UK: DCMSC chair: BBC funding model is ‘unsustainable’

Broadcast: Young viewer tail-off and SVoD-instigated inflation will continue to ‘diminish’ the licence fee, warns Damian Collins

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UK: Government must help BBC fund TV licences for over-75s, say MPs

The Guardian: MPs have warned about the increasingly dire state of the BBC’s finances as competition from Netflix pushes up the cost of making programmes, and called on the government to find a way of ensuring all over-75s continue to receive a free TV licence.

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GENERAL: New report – The independence of media regulatory authorities in Europe

Broadband TV News: The European Audiovisual Observatory has released a new report about the new AVMSD and its effects on media regulation in Europe.

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GENERAL: Public media leaders warn of the urgent need to ensure the digital sovereignty of Europe (Press Release – Spanish)

RTVE: In an increasingly polarized world, the rise of extremist forces is fueled by the growing distrust of people in institutions and the insidious spread of disinformation and hate speech.

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REGIONAL: South Caucasus Media Conference concludes in Tbilisi, OSCE Representative Désir met with President Zourabichvili, calls for strengthening media freedom

OSCE: The 16th South Caucasus Media Conference organized by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, was held on 9 and 10 October in Tbilisi, Georgia.

ARGENTINA: How to rebuild the public media after the emptying of Lombardi (Opinion – Spanish)

Página 12: Delegates of the Public TV, National Radio and the Télam agency propose that “pluralism, federalism and professionalism” should be the central axes of the next management. 

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BOLIVIA: Forced out of jobs and sidelined, Bolivia’s independent journalists see their audience slipping away (Blog)

CPJ: Amalia Pando was once a ubiquitous presence on Bolivian radio and TV, hosting some of the country’s most popular news and political commentary programs. At age 66, she’s still at it, but her audience is a sliver of what it once was.

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BRAZIL: In a corner of Brazil, local reporters are switching to government jobs and the state is achieving “media capture” (Opinion)

Nieman Lab: A strategy of “capturing the main professionals from the newspapers, in their respective fields of work, and thus reduce the tensions of being disturbed by the journalists every single day.” “Memory is crucial for journalism, and we are losing it.”

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COLOMBIA: Esmad continues to attack the press (Spanish) 

Colombia Informa: During student demonstrations across the country, one journalist was pushed and told that they did not have the power to record events. 

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COLOMBIA: FLIP expresses its concern about the situation of the press in Ipiales (Spanish)

FLIP: FLIP rejects the threat received by journalists Miguel Rojas and Rubén Darío Rojas from Ipiales, Nariño, on September 30. Likewise, FLIP expresses its concern about the accusations made by public officials of Ipiales against the media of that municipality, holding the press responsible for the death, on October 11, of the manager of the waterworks company, Empoobando.  

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COSTA RICA: Press freedom was tarnished in PAC governments, according to SIP (Spanish)

CR Hoy: During the last two months, press freedom and access to public information have deteriorated in Costa Rica, affecting the country’s reputation in terms of human rights. 

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ECUADOR: Authorities and protesters target the press amid protests in Ecuador

CPJ: As protests against the Ecuadoran government’s move to end fuel subsidies enter their seventh day, journalists and media outlets continue to be targets of violence and attacks from the authorities and protesters, according to local media. As of October 8, Fundamedios, an Ecuadoran press freedom organization, had documented 59 violations against the press, including detentions, threats, and acts of violence.

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EL SALVADOR: IAPA urges Bukele to cease attacks against the media (Spanish)

El Salvador: A statement from the last meeting of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) places the President of the Republic, Nayib Bukele , on the blacklist of the leaders of the continent for their positions towards the media and the journalistic exercise.

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GUYANA: Stabroek News should act to preserve its independence (Opinion)

Starbroek News: Ralph Ramkarran SC has been formally announced as the presidential candidate for A New and United Guyana (ANUG0 and has been a weekly columnist in the Sunday Stabroek. The newspaper is urged to maintain its independence. 

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HAITI: Radio Panic FM journalist found dead in Haiti following threats

CPJ: Haitian journalist Néhémie Joseph Joseph, a reporter for the privately owned stations Radio Panic FM and Radio Méga, was found dead in his car last week, in the Bayas area of the city of Mirebalais, according to The Associated Press and local media. The journalist had been shot several times in the head, according to reports.

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JAMAICA: The Gleaner Names New Editor-In-Chief

The Gleaner: The Gleaner Company (Media) Limited, a member of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group, has appointed career communications specialist and journalist Kaymar Jordan as its next editor-in-chief. She will be the second female editor-in chief in the company’s 185-year history. Wyvolyn Gager, the first female editor, served from 1994 to 2001. 

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GENERAL: IAPA General Assembly sees ‘disastrous’ period for Inter-American press in 2019

Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: The 75th General Assembly of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) concluded that the past six months have been a “particularly disastrous” period for the press in the region, the organization said on Oct.

IRAQ: Protests in Iraq: How a deadly crackdown has put freedom of speech and assembly in peril

Via IFEX: Rights groups call on Iraqi authorities to investigate protester deaths and uphold the right to freedom of expression and assembly.

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SYRIA & TURKEY: Turkish air raid in Syria kills several civilians, at least one journalist

France24: At least nine people were killed, including five civilians and one journalist, in a Turkish air raid on a convoy of civilians in northern Syria on Sunday, FRANCE 24 correspondent Jasper Mortimer said.

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SYRIA: Northeastern Syria turning into news black hole

RSF: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is very concerned about local journalists still in Kurdish northeastern Syria, which many reporters have fled since 13 October when two were killed by a Turkish bombardment.

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TURKEY: Editor Nedim Türfent’s prison sentence upheld

PEN International: Responding to the news that reporter, news editor and poet Nedim Türfent had his prison sentence upheld by Turkey’s Court of Cassation yesterday, Salil Tripathi, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee, said…

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TURKEY: Turkish offensive: Fake images circulate on Arab social media (Paywall)

BBC Monitoring: As Arab social media users have focused their attention on the ongoing Turkish military operation in north-eastern Syria, a substantive proportion of the pictures and videos shared in the region have been found to be inauthentic.

CANADA: CBC taking Conservative Party to court over online election ad

CBC News: Public broadcaster takes federal party to court over using its TV clips in campaign commercial.

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CANADA: Chinese social media giant flouting Canadian election law

CBC News: Election ads are appearing on WeChat, while company says it doesn’t accept political ads

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CANADA: Netflix And CBC Are Breaking Up, Is This A Sign Of Things To Come?

Cinema Blend: Those carefully keeping track of the ever-evolving streaming wars will note this important moment. It comes as yet another changing of the tide in the content battles to come. 

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CANADA: Publishers banding together to find solutions as they battle tech giants

Toronto Star: Nearly two-thirds of news publishers believe their relationships with big tech platforms, such as Facebook and Google, have become more fraught in recent years, according to a global report examining the co-existence between journalism and the digital giants.

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CANADA & FRANCE: Radio-Canada and France Télévisions announce partnership

CBC/Radio-Canada: Radio-Canada is pleased and proud to announce it has reached a partnership agreement with France Télévisions that will create opportunities on the French market for six local television productions. 

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U.S: Are Fox News and rightwing media making plans for a post-Trump future?

The Guardian: On Thursday Donald Trump lashed out at the typically loyalist network following a Fox News poll that found that 51% of respondents wanted to see the president impeached and removed from office and an additional 4% said he should be impeached but not removed.

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US: Community Broadcaster: A Cautionary Tale (Blog)

Radio World: This week’s big news in community radio was all about layoffs at Pacifica radio station WBAI(FM) in New York and termination of its existing programming. The seriousness of the situation is a bellwether to conversations community media must have about relevance.

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US: CPB, Arizona State University Cronkite School of Journalism Announce 2020 Public Media Editorial Integrity and Leadership Fellows (Opportunity)

CPB: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University are pleased to announce the second round of fellows selected to participate in the Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative (EILI). 

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US: How are paywalled news outlets preparing to serve residents in California’s mega-power shutoffs? 

Nieman Lab: “If we’re going to have news that is paid for by audiences, we have to talk about the news that should never be behind paywalls.”

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U.S: Issues of pay, communication fuel growth of unions in public radio (Paywall)

Current: Employees at WBUR in Boston got serious earlier this year about changes they wanted at the station.

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U.S: Video Of Fake Trump Attacking Media Is Widely Condemned

NPR: A graphic video showing a fake President Trump shooting and stabbing journalists and political adversaries was shown during a pro-Trump conference at the president’s Miami resort last week.

Assessing the media development challenge in the Middle East

CIMA: As over 40 media experts settled into the sunny conference room in Beirut, casual exchanges hinted at the breadth of challenges they had assembled to discuss. 

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Covering immigration in a private contractor’s world

CJR: When Patrick Michels began reporting on immigration two years ago, he set out to find where the government was sending migrant children who had arrived unaccompanied or who had been separated from parents or guardians. 

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‘Deletefacebook’ trends after Zuckerberg backlash

BBC: The hashtag deletefacebook is trending on social media after it emerged Mark Zuckerberg held informal dinners with conservative politicians and right-wing commentators in the US.

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Disinformation, distrust, disengagement: how can we reinvent journalism? (Watch)

Journalism.co.uk: News diets have become akin to junk food and it is harming our audiences’ mental health. Anne-Sophie Novel explains what we can do to serve healthier options and improve the way we ‘make the news’

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Focus here, not there: These are the gaps in political misinformation research (Opinion)

Nieman Lab: “Persistent debates about what constitutes ‘fake news’ and distinctions between other types of false information are mostly distracting.” Plus: A guide to covering misinformation without burning your news org or your readers, and a discussion of filter bubbles as not-really-a-thing.

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How to change the way we report on climate change

European Journalism Centre: Main takeaways from “A New Era for Climate Change Reporting”, the News Impact Summit in Birmingham.

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Press freedom violations recounted in real time January 2019

RSF

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Streaming revolution: how do the new ​TV platforms stack up?

The Observer: As Apple enters the game, with Britbox and Disney+ close behind, we assess the new rivals to Netflix and Amazon Prime

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Syria, Turkey’s President Erdoğan, and the ongoing op-ed problem

CJR

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When Autocrats Attack: How Journalists Around the Globe Are Fighting Back

GIJN: “With Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, autocrats may think they can ignore the traditional intermediaries of information. But the best journalists are not just mere messengers.”